There was a time, a long time, following the Alabama game that Antonio Coleman thought he'd played his last snap at Auburn. Following the resignation of Tommy Tuberville, Coleman said he had pretty much made up his mind.

Obviously he changed it when Saturday he announced his intentions to return to Auburn.

"When coach Tuberville resigned, I didn't know too much about it. I actually thought he had got fired at first," remembered Antonio Coleman. "That really hurt me. I was thinking about leaving because that's the only coach I played under in college football and I love him to death.

"He's like a father to me. Anything that I went through, I would talk to him and he would make it all better. I went and sat down to talk to him right after it happened and he said if I needed any advice, if I needed anything, just come and talk to him and he'll let me know."